tolerance

noun

1. 1

   obsoleteThe ability to endure pain or hardship; endurance.

2. 2

   The ability or practice of tolerating; an acceptance of or patience with the beliefs, opinions or practices of others; a lack of bigotry.

   Near-synonym: forbearance

   Both [Ze'ev] Jabotinsky and [David] Ben-Gurion also wrote songs of praise to the Ottoman Empire, its tolerance toward ethnic minorities in general — and to Jews in particular — as well as to the democratic changes it was undergoing.

3. 3

   The ability of the body (or other organism) to resist the action of a poison, to cope with a dangerous drug or to survive infection by an organism.

4. 4

   The ability of the body (or other organism) to resist the action of a poison, to cope with a dangerous drug or to survive infection by an organism. Resistance to drunkenness.

   Since he hadn't had any alcohol in years, his tolerance was very low, and it only took two drinks for him to get sloshed.

5. 5

   The variation or deviation from a standard, especially the maximum permitted variation in an engineering measurement.

   Our customers can generally accept ten times the tolerance which we can achieve in our machining operations.

6. 6

   The ability of the body to accept a tissue graft without rejection.

verb

1. 1

   To design or engineer a material to a specified tolerance.

Forms

plural

tolerances

past tense

toleranced

past participle

toleranced

present participle

tolerancing

third person singular

tolerances